The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03 eBook

The circumstances are urged that Wallenstein was a
prince of the Empire, and had as such the right to
negotiate with foreign powers; that his delegated
authority from the Emperor gave him the right to do
so in the Emperor’s name; that the Emperor had
not kept faith with Wallenstein, and had thus justified
him in at least frightening the court; that self preservation
seemed to indicate rebellion as the only recourse;
that Wallenstein’s belief in his destiny and
the fatuous devotion of his army led him to reckless
action; and finally that he did not originally intend
to commit actual treason.

Thus prepared, the reader can easily sympathize with
Wallenstein in his downfall; this sympathy is entirely
won by the admirable courage with which Wallenstein
bears the successive blows of fate, and it is strengthened
by consideration of the mean motives of the men who
serve as the tools of his execution, and by the remembrance
that the fate of Max and Thekla is bound up in his.
Schiller was concerned lest the love episode should
detract from the interest due the chief persons of
the tragedy; his art has effected the exact opposite.

The influence of Shakespeare is more or less obvious
in all of Schiller’s later dramas. Aside
from the splendid rhetoric of the monologues, the
character of Countess Terzky, so similar to that of
Lady Macheth, suggests this. But such influence
is not so controlling as to be in any respect a reproach
to Schiller. Goethe in his generous admiration
considered Wallenstein “so great that nothing
could be compared with it.” “In the
imaginative power whereby history is made into drama,
in the triumph of artistic genius over a vast and
refractory mass of material, and in the skill with
which the character of the hero is conceived and denoted,
Wallenstein is unrivaled. Its chief figure
is by far the stateliest and most impressive of German
tragic heroes.” [22]

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THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

WALLENSTEIN, Duke of Friedland,
Generalissimo of the Imperial
Forces in the Thirty Years’ War.

DUCHESS OF FRIEDLAND, Wife of
Wallenstein.

THEKLA, her Daughter, Princess of
Friedland.

The COUNTESS TERZKY, Sister of the Duchess.

LADY NEUBRUNN.

OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI, Lieutenant-General.

MAX PICCOLOMINI, his son, Colonel
of a regiment of Cuirassiers.

COUNT TERZKY, the Commander of several Regiments,
and Brother-in-law of Wallenstein.